Labyrinth
by Fitzwiggity
Summary: When Sheppard and Teyla disappear on another planet while heading home, Rodney and Ronan both must search high and low for their friends before it’s too late.
1. An Unusual Silence

_**Stargate Atlantis**_

**Labyrinth**

TransformerofEarth

**_Stargate Atlantis_**

**Labyrinth**

TransformerofEarth

Summary: When Sheppard and Teyla disappear on another planet while heading home, Rodney and Ronan both must search high and low for their friends before it's too late.

Chapter One: _An Unusual Silence _

The quiet of the night and the absence of stars seemed somehow unnatural to Colonel Sheppard. There was usually a glimmer or two of a semi-glowering star around, followed by the faint shadow of the moon hiding behind the clouds. Still…a ruined city with hardly any light to see by, and quietness that beyond understood almost made the Colonel feel somewhat…afraid. There, it was out in the open now. He admitted that he felt afraid about this place, and that he didn't like it one bit. There were too many shadows, too much quiet. This place, you could almost fall asleep but no matter how hard you tried, the quiet would still get into you and you wouldn't be able to even close your eyes for a minute. Or so he thought. Rodney thought differently.

"I can actually hear my own thoughts." He had claimed after an hour or so of trying to decipher some strange things on a 'computer' that he had found in one of the rooms of the city. But then, when even Ronan began to look unsettled, and Teyla was beginning to feel rather fidgety, he sent the two back to the gate to report to Dr. Weir about their findings. And about how they felt. They still hadn't made it back yet, even though it was only a half hour to the gate. Which was beginning to make him even more nervous than was usual.

"You know." Rodney said suddenly, breaking his line of thoughts. "I think that there was some kind of project or something going on here." Sheppard turned towards him. He'd been facing the hallway where Ronan and Teyla had disappeared too, watching for any sign of their returning.

"Yea?" Sheppard asked, curious. He'd been wondering why there wasn't anyone around, and why the city appeared to be dead...even though it wasn't in ruins. Something was going on here, and he didn't like it at all.

"Well, it says here that they were working on something that would help change the city…something that would get them all better shields, and better light, and stuff." Rodney continued. "I think that maybe somehow it went wrong, and they couldn't fix it."

Frowning, Sheppard decided to humor him.

"And if it was the…project? What then?"

"Oh." Rodney paused; obviously he hadn't thought that far ahead. This surprised Sheppard, as his friend and partner usually thought farther ahead than the rest of them and somehow managed to pull off many different things in one day. "Oh…erm, I'll get back to you on that." He muttered. Sheppard gave a forced grin.

"Wouldn't want you holding out on us, McKay." He informed. "You're the brains of the operation, or so you keep telling me."

"True." Rodney was forced to admit. "And yet, you still can't get it through that thick skull of yours that I'm not perfect at everything."

"It's about time you admitted to that." Ronan's deep voice came from behind Sheppard, startling him. He turned quickly, nearly bumping into him.

"Colonel?" Teyla spoke with the usual softness to her voice, as well as a tone of concern. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." He said. "Just don't sneak up on me like that." He added at Ronan, glowering at him. The runner ignored him and turned towards Rodney.

"Dr. Weir says she wants you to wrap it up, take what you can, and get back to the gate. There's something going on back at Atlantis that she needs your help with, Doc, and I think that it's not going to go away quickly." Ronan informed.

"Great." Rodney said. "More work. How did I guess?"

"You didn't." Ronan said, confused.

"I-never mind. Show me back, will you? I don't want to get lost in that bloody darkness."

"Taking after Carson are we?" Sheppard said with a grin. 

"Hah." Rodney shot back. "I'll have you know that I'm not the only one who's taking to Carson." Sheppard was confused for a moment, before reality dawned on him.

"No. Weir's not-"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Rodney said. "You're nearly as bad as Zelenka. I'll explain whenever I get a chance." Muttering, he grabbed his laptop after doing a few key strokes here and there, and then headed towards the door. He paused as the other three stood in the room watching him. "Are you coming?" He asked Ronan. Ronan merely grunted and started off after him as he headed into the dark hallway. Sheppard gave a small grin over at him, and 'asked'

"Keep an eye on him. You don't know what he'll get into along the way back to the gate."

"I heard that!" Rodney's voice floated into the room from the hallway. Teyla gave a small smile. Teyla and Sheppard waited a bit before Sheppard suggested.

"So. Want to explore?" Teyla looked at him with an amused expression.

"Colonel, isn't that what we were supposed to be doing?"

"I was merely improvising a conversation." Sheppard protested.

"I would like to." Teyla said. Sheppard looked at her blankly. She sighed. "I would like to explore with you, Colonel."

"Oh." He said, feeling stupid that he didn't get it. "Let's go then." He headed towards the door. As he did, Teyla felt a small chill in the air.

"Colonel." She said softly. He stopped and turned.

"What? Wraith?" He asked quickly.

"No." She frowned. "I am not sure…I just felt something…cold."

"Could be wind?" Sheppard suggested feeling uneasy. He gripped his P-90 in his right hand, just in case. She shook her head, concentrating. Continuing to frown, she closed her eyes and Sheppard watched as her brows furrowed with even deeper concentration.

"I think…" She paused. For a few moments, there was nothing but the quietness that Sheppard had listened to earlier. He gripped his P-90 tighter; feeling slightly reassured that he had some protection near at hand. "Never mind. I think you were right. It could have been the wind." She said, forcing a smile. Sheppard remained unconvinced.

"Think we should-"

"I think we should continue to explore." She said firmly. "With all these interruptions, it would be a miracle if we ever even explored another room." Sheppard allowed a reluctant grin.

"And with McKay with us, you know that won't be any time soon."

"Colonel?" McKay's voice came over the radio. Sheppard gave a broader grin.

"Speak and he shall come." He informed Teyla who gave him a genuine smile. "Sheppard here. What's up, McKay?"

"Dr. Weir wants us all back at the gate. Something about the Daedalus arriving earlier than it should, and carrying precious cargo." Rodney stated. "And I think that there was another briefing involved too."

"Could that precious cargo be chocolate?" Sheppard said with a smirk.

"That's very funny."

"Thanks. I thought it was." Sheppard said. He missed seeing Teyla roll her eyes.

"In any case, you guys should get back here soon anyway. It looks like a storm is coming."

"Really?" Sheppard said, eyeing Teyla. She got the message almost at once. _That could indicate the 'cold wind' you felt. _"You don't say."

"You know something about it don't you?" Rodney sounded resigned. "Why do I get the feeling that you guys aren't telling me something?"

"Perhaps because there's nothing to tell?" Sheppard suggested.

"I'm not an idiot Colonel." He said.

"I can, uh, hear that." Sheppard said.

"Look, Weir says that she wants us back in an hour, unless 'dire situations' arise." Rodney said, imitating Elizabeth's voice. Sheppard couldn't help but smile.

"Her exact words huh?" Sheppard said, commenting.

"Move Colonel." The radio went silent, in which Sheppard turned towards Teyla.

"Well. Seems like it won't be even one room that we get to investigate fully." He said. She didn't say anything. Surprised, he turned to look for her and found that she was gone. Frowning, he said loudly, "Teyla?"

A sudden rush of wind seemed to make him fly backwards into the wall, and a broken down column. He winced as he got up, and brushed some rubble off his shoulders.

"What the hell's going on?" He muttered. The room grew darker. He quickly got out a flashlight, and shinned it around the room. Just as he was about to radio Rodney, his voice came on.

"Colonel, what the hell's taking you so long?"

"I think I've lost Teyla." He responded, keeping his eyes peeled everywhere at once.

"How'd you lose her? Wasn't she right by your side the whole time?" Rodney demanded.

"Behind me actually." Sheppard said sarcastically.

"Well find her." Rodney said, just as-if not more-sarcastically than Sheppard.

"No, really? What do you think I've been trying to-"The room suddenly was changed. Sheppard was no longer in a dark room with only the flashlight helping him to see. He was in a room with marble, and steel...and Teyla.

"Teyla."

"Colonel Sheppard. How did we-"Her voice sounded surprised, and yet she controlled it almost instantly. "Do Ronan and Rodney know where we are?"

"I don't think so." He said, shaking his head. "Rodney was actually ordering me to find you so we could head back to Atlantis." He scowled at the room. "How do you think we ended up here?"

"Perhaps we...triggered something?" She suggested.

"Like what? There wasn't anything in the room except a-" He suddenly looked down to where they were standing. A large silver metal square was there, with a small black circular object in the middle of it. Great.

"Trigger happy." He muttered under his breath. Then, loudly, he said, "Look down." She did.

"Oh." She said, frowning. Then, she brightened. "This would give us more cause to look around."

"What?" Sheppard said, looking at her in astonishment.

"Dr. Weir did say we could stay longer than an hour under 'dire circumstances'. This is dire enough. We don't know where we are, or how to get back to where we were."

Sheppard thought about it.

"You know, you do have a point." Looking around for a door, he found it almost instantly.

"Ladies first." He offered.

End chapter One.


	2. Sight Unseen

_**Stargate Atlantis**_

**Labyrinth**

TransformerofEarth

**_Stargate Atlantis_**

**Labyrinth**

TransformerofEarth

Summary: When Sheppard and Teyla disappear on another planet while heading home, Rodney and Ronan both must search high and low for their friends before it's too late.

Chapter Two: _Sight Unseen_

Pacing back and forth, Rodney finally couldn't take it anymore. Between the eternal silence, and Ronan's staring from his spot against a large column, it seemed as though they were in for a long night...and he didn't have anything to do but wait. They'd already contacted Dr. Weir about their team members disappearence, and she had ordered them to try and find them. Ronan had intercepted and said that perhaps they should wait for a few more minutes too see if they would find their way back first. No good.

"This wouldn't have happened if they hadn't been more careful." Rodney snapped.

"Five hundred." Ronan remarked quietly, counting the seconds as they waited for Sheppard and Teyla to reappear magically just as they had vanished in thin air. "Now we can search."

"Search for what?" McKay demanded irritably. "There's no sign of them any where. I've looked."

"In this room." Ronan pointed out quietly, observing the area that the two had vanished from. He saw something on the floor and headed towards it. McKay stared at him.

"Perhaps they didn't disappear from something in this room." He argued. "They could've been taken up into an alien ship like Colonel O'Neil had been when he was in the-" A flash of dim white light lit the room and then disappeared-along with Ronan. "SGC. Crap." He muttered, heading straight towards where Ronan was. "Crap. Crap. Crap."

Looking down at the floor, he spotted a symbol of the ancients of some sort, and tried hard to make out what it said...having learned some of the language from Dr. Weir, and a little from Dr. Jackson when he'd traveled back to Earth on the Daedalus. It proved impossible. He figured that it was basically a teleporting device like that from the series Star Trek, to put it in simplier terms, but much more complex than simple graphics. Scowling, he jerked out his radio, and was about to call for backup-when a sound in the hallway interupted him.

"That can't be them." He muttered to himself, looking towards the doorway. Impossible. Utterly impossible. Yet if it _was _them...he drew out his gun just in case.

"McKay." Ronan's voice nearly made him shot the gun in his hands towards the pillar that he'd been leaning on before. Jumping out of his skin and his face turning white, he clutched the radio with a look of anger, and answered with a hiss,

"Where the hell are you, you big monkey!"

"What's a monkey?" Ronan asked with interest.

"Never mind, just answer the question." McKay said through gritted teeth.

"Probably below or above you. I can't tell for sure. It looks like the same room but with differences. Haven't you tried teleporting yourself to where I am?"

"No. I'm not that stupid-" A louder noise came from the hallway. It didn't sound like voices, but he couldn't tell for sure. He hoped Sheppard wasn't pulling another stupid joke on him...

"McKay. Try getting here. Now." Ronan said, with a sense of urgancy.

"Why? Have you found-"

"Just get here." Ronan ordered, and then the radio went dead. Scowling once more, he holstered the radio back into it's pocket, and tried to figure out how the three vanished on the spot that was right in front of him. Perhaps all it took was to step on it, and he'd transport to somewhere...maybe where his friends were. Taking a deep breath, he put one foot out in front of the other, and began to step into the circular teleporting device.

Nothing happened.

His eyes flew open, and he looked down at where he was standing. Realizing that something could be wrong with the thing, he was about to bend down and check it out, when the loud noise suddenly became clear. It was a scream of rage and hate, and seemed to come from the direction of the front door. Looking up in suden fear, he wondered if someone still lived in this city after all. Taking a step back, he raised his weapon and was about to prepare to fire when a bright white light seared his eyes making him blink...

**End Chapter Two.**


	3. Waiting

Stargate Atlantis

Labyrinth

TricksterLover

Author's Notes: Here's Chapter Three. Enjoy.

Chapter 3:

Ronan paced. He hated waiting, and he thought that what he had told McKay would send him practically running (so to speak) here. But it'd been five minutes, and the scientist still hadn't made it. Perhaps he had been distracted by something...or he was just being an idiot.

"McKay. Get over here. Now." Ronan said into the radio tersly. And was surprised when all he recieved was static. Looking down worriedly at his radio, he wondered briefly if he shouldn't try heading back towards the room that he had come from and see what the problem was. If the scientist had simply gone back to the gate...well, McKay would soon be meeting the end of his fist.

He glanced towards the open doorway across the room, and thought quickly. Given the situation, Sheppard and Teyla might possibly NOT need them just yet, and McKay probably did. He had heard something crawling around 'upstairs' or whereever, but he thought it was probably just some mice or something like mice. But it might've been something dangerous, something he never would have suspected...

That did it. He was going back up there, even if Sheppard and Teyla needed him. McKay was bound to get into more trouble than those two put together anyway, and if he didn't find McKay soon, or if he didn't get his ass down here, then there would soon become problems more than the scientist would like to handle. Taking a breath, he stepped off the 'ring' and was about to step back on it when there was a bright irritating light flashing in the room, and then-it went out to reveal an unconcious scientist facedown, on the floor exactly where he had been standing a few minutes ago.

"Christ." Ronan proclaimed, upon seeing the knocked out scientist. Sheppard was going to have to wait after all, as was Teyla. Whatever had happened back upstairs, there was obviously something running around, trying to get people eaten or something like being eaten. Perhaps it was the natives, if there were any, who did this. Which meant that they had intruded upon someone else's home, and they were suffering the consequences.

Which meant that they had probably made yet another enemy. And if they did, they had to be smart enough to knock out a scientist...even if the scientist was McKay. He bent down next to him, and checked his pulse. It was going rapidly, which meant that he wasn't dead...small comfort that was. He thought quickly, and decided that he would simply wait for the scientist to wake up. If he took forever, then he would just have to throw some water on him from his canteen. His only hope was that the scienstist wouldn't take too long to wake up...he had a feeling that time had passed much more quickly, and soon they were going to need all the time they could get.

_End Chapter Three. _


	4. Night Monsters

_**Stargate Atlantis**_

**Labyrinth**

Fitzwiggity

Author's Notes: Hah! I got the fourth chapter up! This one leads on to a bit of Sheppard and Telya whumpage for everyone. I've been busy lately which explains the long wait.Would greatly LOVE reviews, for anyone and everyone that has 'em.

Chapter Four: Night Monsters

Sheppard was beginning to get rather worried. He'd been worried before, but never to this much urgancy. He and Teyla had both been wandering down the same hallway for nearly an hour and a half. Or at least, according to his watch.

"Think we're getting anywhere?" Sheppard finally asked Teyla as she walked quietly besides him.

"I am not sure." She admitted. "Though it seems as we're...going in circles?"

"I know what you mean." Sheppard said with a small grin. Then, as the two continued walking, silence reigned once more. Scowling now, Sheppard was all for trying to contact McKay and Ronan again, but he doubted if there was even going to be static. It almost seemed as though they were going further downward, and not just straight towards...wherever. He grimaced at the thought of forever walking in a straight line, not knowing if he should turn back or continue to go forward. Well, he had to make a decision some time...

"Telya?" He said. His voice gave a faint echo against the rocks. The place was slowly getting darker as well. That was it, he decided. He was going back.

"Colonel?" Her soft voice seemed filled with concern as deep as his.

"Perhaps we should-"

"Go back? Yes, I agree." Teyla proclaimed, filling Sheppard with a sense of relief.

"Okay. Good." And all of a sudden, he felt this urgent pull to continue to go forward.

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Ronan continued to sit irritably on the floor, waiting impatiently for McKay to wake up. There was still so little time left for them to find Sheppard and Telya before something obviously went wrong. Scowling at the knocked out scientist, he gave another sigh, before crossing his arms, and finding another comfortable position.

AN: I know this chapter was rather short, and the next one will be longer. I've been trying to find time to get more done, but there's lots of things going on. (Tornadoes. Graduation. Houses and cows flying around!) I promise to try and update a longer chapter again soon!


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